COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY RECRUITMENT: EFFECTS OF JOB MOBILITY, RECRUITER SIMILARITY-DISSIMILARITY, AND APPLICANT GENDER

The study reported in this article was a factorial experiment that addressed the usefulness of the Rynes and Barber (1990) applicant attraction model and the Byrne (1971) similarity-attraction hypothesis as theoretical frameworks for conducting empirical research about community college faculty recruitment. Study participants (N = 136) were business professionals completing the masters of business administration degree who position announcements of community college business faculty vacancies. The independent variables were job mobility (relocation required vs. relocation not required), recruiter background (business vs. education), and applicant gender. The dependent variable was a composite rating for applicant reaction to a job described in a faculty position announcement. Both male and female applicants rated jobs most favorably when the job did not require relocation F(1,128) = 5.16, p.05 and the recruiter conveying the job message had a professional background similar to that of the applicant F(1,128) = 11.97, p.001. These findings have implications for theory, educational recruitment practice, and future research.